Wamalwa New Defence CS As Keter Sent To A Weakened Devolution

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sept 29- Eugene Wamalwa is the new Defence Cabinet Secretary, in a reshuffle done by President Uhuru Kenyatta on Wednesday.

He has replaced Monica Juma, who now heads to the Ministry of Energy while Charles Keter proceeds to a weakened Devolution Ministry.

A chunk of the Devolution Ministry responsibilities has been transferred to Prof Margaret Kobia led Ministry, which will now include Public Service, Gender, Senior Citizen Affairs, and Special Programmes.

In the changes, Head of the Public Service Joseph Kinyua said the State Department for Arid and Semi-Lands has been transferred to Kobia’s docket.

Also transferred to her Ministry is the state department for social protection, pensions, and senior citizen affairs “which state department is renamed as the State Department for Social Protection, Senior Citizen Affairs, and Special Programmes.”

The services were previously under the Ministry of Labour.

Kinyua said the changes are meant to enhance operational efficiency, institutionalize the implementation of various ongoing groundbreaking reforms, better orientate portfolio responsibilities with both national development plans as well as the need of citizens, and introduce functional changes that shall make the relevant Ministries and State Departments more efficient and better able to deliver superlative services to the public.”

Keter’s exit from the energy docket came hours after President Kenyatta received a report submitted by a presidential task force on the review of power purchase agreements he appointed in March, which recommended wide-ranging reforms to bring down the cost of electricity.

The presidential task force led by John Ngumi presented their report to President Uhuru Kenyatta at State House Nairobi following months of deliberations with stakeholders in response to the high cost of electricity for both individual consumers and enterprises.

The high cost of electricity is said to have impeded and affected economic activities, as well as limiting the country’s aspirations of realizing its potential as a middle-income and industrialized country.

The consequence of the proposed interventions is that a consumer who previously spent Sh500 per month on electricity shall by December 31, 2021 pay Sh330 per month.

This cost reduction will be achieved through the reduction of the consumer tariffs from an average of Sh24 per kilowatt-hour to Sh16 per kilowatt-hour which is about two-thirds of the current tariff.

Already, the cost of electricity per unit of power is said to be the highest in five years.

The task force was mandated to, “undertake a comprehensive review and analysis of the terms of all Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) entered into by the Kenya Power and Lighting Company Limited (KPLC) and develop a suitable strategy for engagement with the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and lenders, in order to achieve relief for electricity consumers and ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the energy sector,” reads a section of the executive order by President Kenyatta.